


Surprise

by DearLadyDisdain



Category: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-11
Updated: 2013-10-11
Packaged: 2017-12-29 02:37:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/999857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DearLadyDisdain/pseuds/DearLadyDisdain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>David discovers a secret</p>
<p>CSI isn't mine, their characters aren't mine, but I will admit to a hip scarf addiction ;)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Surprise

“Thank you for bringing me, David, I really appreciate it.” Olivia said as she got out of the car. David shut the door behind her and said, “It’s no problem, Mother. You should have told me your car was acting up, I could have looked at it.” 

“No, you shouldn’t be doing that. You need your hands for your job.” she said and he rolled his eyes. He opened the door to the community center for her and followed her in a few steps. “I’ll get a table at the coffee shop outside, just come find me when your painting class is done and I’ll take you to lunch.” he said and kissed her on the cheek.

Olivia sighed and said, “I don’t understand why your single, David. You take such good care of me.” He just smiled until she went into the classroom and then rolled his eyes and said to himself, “Not exactly the same thing, mom.” 

He went out and got himself a coffee and a paper, then found a table to wait for her. He had a good view of the door of the Community Center. It used to be an old set of stores that had been renovated, so some of the classrooms had storefront windows still where people could watch the classes. Finding the paper full of things he already knew about from in the lab anyway he found himself looking at the windows instead.

One of them held a sculpture class, the lower half of the window was splattered with clay from the wheel in front of it for throwing pottery. Another was full of pink tutus and little girls trying to stand on their toes. He had to smile at that one. Then there were the double doors he’d left his mother at, and next to that was the larger set of windows. 

This was a larger dance room, and from the looks of the mats piled in the corner by the window, it was probably used for yoga or something like it as well. Right now, though, it was full of women wearing jingly scarves over sweatpants who were trying to keep up with the teacher in the front of the class.

“Must be the bellydance class,” he thought, remembering how his mom had mentioned wanting to take it but it had filled up fast. He shook his head quickly to get that image out of his mind and chased it away with a drink of coffee.

He took his tablet out of his bag and sorted out his email, half paying attention to that and half people watching. He glanced up and noticed the bellydance class had thinned out to a few stragglers that seemed to be just hanging around after class. One of the women came over and pushed open one of the large windows to let the breeze in, also letting the sounds out to his table nearby.

“Come on, we’ve got time - you promised if we practiced you’d show us the sword dance.” came a voice.

“Yeah - the next class isn’t in here for a bit, just do a little!” came another voice. 

“Do you all forget I work nights?” came a laughing, yet somewhat familiar voice, “I still have one more class to cover before I can go home and sleep.” He frowned, trying to place the voice, and turned more towards the windows.

“You never sleep, you told us so. Here, have more coffee!” answered another voice and it was followed by more laughs.

“Okay, fine, but just a short one, then I need to get ready for the next class.” came the familiar voice again. He watched as the few women left found places to sit on the floor away from the front, then as a lone woman walked back up to to the front with a large curved sword in her hand.

She took a moment to balance it on her head and then held her arms out to the sides as he heard music start. Because of the angle, he couldn’t really see her in the mirrors in front of her, so all he could see was her back as she started to move.

He found himself watching and drawn in by her gracefulness and smooth movements that seemed effortless with the music. She did a deep back bend and the sword never went off balance. It seemed that even the coins on her hip scarf were trained to move the right way, he could hear them jingle in time with the music. 

Then the music suddenly changed and she stopped and grabbed the sword before it fell and he heard her laugh.    
“Enough with that - let’s have some Beats Antique!” one of the women said from by the stereo, then went over and took the sword. The music was darker, but worked well for the movement the woman started to make with them. She seemed to reach out as far as she could with each move, only to slowly bring her arms back in snakelike. As she turned he could see her back and stomach muscles isolate into waves with the music, all of it flowing together, the coins at her hips catching the light and making their little music of their own. 

As she turned and her movements flowed his eyes traveled up, noticing the tattoos across her hips above the scarf. They were colorful vines of some sort that curved over each hip and down, with a couple of vines traveling up to curve around her sides. She turned her head quickly, her long hair flowing to come over her shoulder and exposing her bare back. It was then he noticed what looked like 3 long and deep scars going from her left hip and up to her right shoulder. Some of them concealed in tattoo work, but the main of it across her open back was bare. Whatever had happened had to have been severe and a part of him wondered at it.

Until she turned again and his eyes finally went to her face...and he was suddenly very glad he hadn’t been holding his coffee or he would have dropped it.

He watched entranced as Emma Lee spun a few times and then stopped and did some kind of hip movement that then seemed to roll up her body and make him forget that he was probably blatantly staring with his mouth hanging open.

He watched until the song ended and he heard the women clapping and that brought him back to himself. He gave himself a shake and then looked again. It was her, no doubt about it. Usually always covered head to toe in black, all hard edges and firing stance Ballistics tech...but now she was in soft grey leggings to her knees and silver coins on silk and skin, lots of skin, showing with beautiful artwork scrolled all over it, and her hair hanging down past her waist and...those scars. What the hell were those scars? And was her hair always that long? She always had it up at work. And there really was a lot of artwork on that skin...and *he felt his mouth go dry* the tattoo on her stomach of some kind of Goddess had a dangling, very light catching, sparkly crystal piercing hanging from it.

He slid his hand around the table til he found his now cold coffee and downed the rest of it.

“I need some fresh coffee before this next class girls, I’ll see you all next week, Ok?” he heard her say and he froze. He quickly turned his chair so his back was to the windows and then intently started moving files on his tablet. Not looking up when he heard the now ingrained into his mind jingles pass him. He did notice the feet, now in flip flops, with bright purple painted toes and a jingling ankle bracelet go past him.

A few minutes later he heard the sound coming back his way, but instead of going past it stopped, right in front of him. It was then he noticed another vine tattoo that seemed to start on top of her foot in a lotus flower and then wind it’s way along her ankle and up her leg, disappearing under the leggings and he couldn’t help but wonder if joined up with the ones across her hips...and there was the dry mouth again.

“David?” he heard her say and he looked up and cursed the universe for having the sun land behind her just so, bringing out the blue streaks in her hair and making basic human sweat from exertion look like some kind of damn pixie glow across her skin.

“Spooky?” he managed to get out. She smiled and sat down and he cursed the universe again. “What are you doing here?” she asked, seeming genuinely happy to see him.

“Uh, my Mother is taking a painting class and needed a ride. Her car is in the shop.” he said and finally smiled. She looked back at him confused.

“Why didn’t you fix it?” she asked and he laughed. “She doesn’t want me risking my lab hands to work on her car.” he said as he held up his hands and wiggled his fingers and she laughed. “And you?” he asked, trying to allude to what she was/wasn’t wearing without seeming creepy.

“I teach dance classes here 2 days a week. Tuesdays it’s bellydance and latin, Thursdays it’s ballet and modern.” she said and took a long pull off her coffee.

“I didn’t even know you danced.” he said and he suddenly felt bad for it, they’d been friends for almost 4 months now. She smiled and shook her head.

“No one does but Greg and Nicky. It’s not something I really put out there. Especially at work. For some reason it confuses people.” she said.

“How so?” he asked and reached for his cup, then remembered he’d slammed it earlier.

“It’s hard enough working ballistics when you’re a woman, ballerina’s shouldn’t play with guns.” she said and winked. “Ahh...I see. You know no one on our team would think like that.” he said and she smiled.

“It’s not our team that concerns me, it’s everyone else. Plus, it never fails that once word gets out I get the people wanting me to do Uncle Ed’s birthday party or so and so’s bachelor party. Not really the kind of dancing I do.” she said and laughed.

“Well then, I shall add your secret to the rest and lock it away as well.” he said and gave her a little bow.

“The rest?” she said and her eyebrows went up. He just smirked and put a finger to his lips, the little sparkle that came into his eyes gave her a shiver that went right down her spine.

“Are you cold?” he asked and reached for his jacket on his chair.

“Uh...no, a little, I guess. I need to get back inside anyway, one more class and I still have to change.” she said and stood up quickly, “I’ll see you at work tonight, k?”

“Yeah, okay.” he said as she almost ran back inside. “That was weird.” he thought and then went and got another cup of coffee.

He watched as people filtered into the room, this time couples, waiting for the next class to start. After about 15 minutes Emma Lee came back in, this time in a fresh leotard and long skirt, her hair pulled back in a braid and heeled shoes on instead of bare feet.

He could just hear her speak to the class, a little history of latin dance and what they’d be covering. Then he heard her welcome someone and he moved a bit to see who it was. And he frowned noticing the younger, very handsome and well built man that had come in. He heard her mention a name “Tony” and that he’d be helping her demonstrate to the class the dance they’d be learning today...the tango.

“Why am I caring? She’s a coworker and friend, that’s all.” he said to himself and then stopped himself from slamming his coffee again.

The music came out of the window and he had to look. He didn’t want to, he knew he wasn’t going to like it, as much as he didn’t want to admit it. And he didn’t...something in him started to turn into a tiny green monster, just enough to gnaw at his insides, as he watched this “Tony” dance a very intimate dance with his Spooky.

“My Spooky? When did she become mine?” he asked himself and the back and forth battle in his own head began.

He watched as hands that weren’t his moved over her body and down a leg that was then pulled up over a hip that wasn’t his. 

“So, finally admitting to yourself what you’ve been burying all along? You want that...and you don’t want anyone else, including “tony”, touching it.” came the voice of the little green monster.

“Not going there...just a friend, seen in a new light... the novelty will wear off.” he told himself and went back to his paper, and within minutes was looking over his paper at them dancing.

“Novelty? Seasonal coffee flavors are a novelty, those little rubber bracelets for charities are a novelty...she is no novelty and you know it. And now you won’t be able to look at her, at work or anywhere else, without remembering this. Without still wondering where exactly that vine that starts on her foot and goes up that leg finally ends.” the monster said as one of Tony’s hand went up her leg, pulling the skirt with it, showing that exact vine and that it went to at least her mid thigh.

A quiet groan escaped him and he put his head in his hands, the inner battle over for now. “I am so screwed.” he mumbled to himself.

“David? Honey are you okay?” he heard and he looked up to see his Mom looking at him with that “he looks sick, I should keep him home from school” look he’d come to know so well over the years.

“I’m fine, just too much coffee, I think.” he said and half smiled, gathering his things to go.

“Are you sure, you look pale.” she said. “I work the night shift in a crime lab, I sleep during the day, I’m going to be pale.” he said and stood.

“No need to get testy, I’m just concerned. You need something outside of that lab, David.” she said and then looked past him, “You should take a class! You were a very good dancer in high school, remember? And I’ve heard the new teacher here is wonderful.” 

He froze in abject horror at the thought. “You made me take those classes in high school, Mother. Just because I was good at it didn’t mean I enjoyed it. Besides, it looks like her classes are full.” he said and then took Olivia’s arm to lead her away.

“I worry about you, David. All you do is go to work, I never hear about you spending time with friends or going out. It’s not healthy.” she said as they walked to the car.

“I have friends, it’s just most of them are from work and we understand the weird hours.” he said and opened the car door for her.

“You never tell me about your friends at work.” she said and he sighed as he went around and got in the car.

“There’s not much to tell...we work.” he said and shrugged, starting the car. “Names would be nice, for a start.” she said and he rolled his eyes.

“I told you about Jacqui, you even met her.” he said. “Oh I liked her, she was a sweetheart.” Olivia said and David had to fight the laugh. The one woman terror of the lab and his mom thought she was a sweetheart.

“And there’s um...Greg and Nick, Mandy and Emma Lee - she’s new, she took over for Bobby in Ballistics.” he said.

“What’s ballistics?” she asked. “She works with guns, tests bullets, things like that. She works in the field, too, if they’re short staffed.” David said and tried to concentrate on driving.

“A woman in that field? Now that’s refreshing to hear. Tell me more about her.” she said and he immediately wished he’d stopped at Nick and Greg.

“Well, she came here from London, where she worked for a few years. And she’s traveled a lot, but she grew up in New Orleans. She was Greg’s room mate in college. She’s...interesting. You’d probably call her a spitfire.” he said and again tried not to laugh.

“I would love to meet her, you should invite her over sometime.” she said and he winced. “Our jobs are very draining, Mom, time off is sacred.” he said, “When we do have it we like to just relax and watch movies or play games or something mellow.” He instantly regretted opening his mouth.

Olivia turned to him and stared at him for a moment. “You’re seeing her, aren’t you? You’re seeing someone from work and you didn’t tell me?” she said and he wondered how fast he’d have to be going to hit his head hard enough to knock him out, but not really damage anything if he hit the brakes. He sighed, she just pick up the conversation when he woke up anyway.

“I didn’t say anything because it’s very new and I don’t know what’s happening yet.” he said and felt himself slide into the hole deeper.

She didn’t say anything for a bit and then nodded. “It’s okay, David, I understand. After what happened before I’d want to be sure, too. But I would like to meet her, sometime, anyway.” she said and, surprisingly, said nothing more about it and instead started telling him about her class.

It took everything he had not to beat himself senseless on the steering wheel for the rest of the drive.


End file.
